Third Sunday of Advent | Bulletin of December 14, 2025 Message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

My Dear Family of Our Lady of Lourdes,

Congratulations to everyone who made their Consecration to Jesus through Mary for the first time on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and to all of us who renewed our consecration! I want to thank Fr. Brito again for his generosity in having spent so much time with us, so much of himself with us during our Advent Mission. His presence among us was a tremendous grace and I am sure it will bear much fruit.

It was beautiful to see the English Women’s Emmaus Group consecrate their ministry to Jesus through Mary. The more closely we unite our service to our brothers and sisters in Christ to the mission and guidance of Mary, the more efficacious it will be. Over the past year, we have seen that powerfully realized in the work of both our Emmaus and Matrimonios en Victoria ministries.

In large part because of their ministries, we have seen a great number of couples who have had civil marriage ceremonies seeking to marry in the Church, to place their love for each other fully into Christ’s hands. In many cases this requires a review of life’s journey and may even require presenting a petition of nullity for a prior attempt at marriage to the Church in order to discern one’s freedom to marry.

While we have a good team of advocates who have been prepared to help make those petitions to the Archdiocese of Miami’s tribunal, the large increase in requests for help has been overwhelming and we need more help. The good news is that help is on the way! The Archdiocese of Miami will have training for those who would like to join our team of advocates. The training will be in Broward this February and here in Miami in April. If you are interested in receiving training and joining our team of advocates, just send me a short note at msgr@ololourdes.org.

Msgr. Schwanger
Pastor

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